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Teammate disappointed with Merrett following trade talk
SEN • September 11th, 2025 9:36 pm
Essendon’s Mason Redman has expressed his disappointment with his captain, Zach Merrett, for exploring a trade to move from the club.
It’s been a turbulent week for the Bombers, with talks of Merrett leaving having ramped up despite having two more years on his contract.
Speaking with Cal Twomey from AFL Media, the 28-year-old defender felt that the club had made some improvements this season despite the number of injuries they have had.
"From my point of view, the initial thought is disappointment,” Redman said.
“Irrespective of the injury issues we've had this year, which derailed our on-field progress, I feel like off-field we were really making some inroads into making the club a great place to be around.”
Despite his frustrations with Merrett following the situation, Redman has yet to speak with him and doesn’t begrudge the midfielder for thinking about leaving.
But the 143-game player believes Merrett needs to remember that, by having the captaincy, he needs to be more considerate of the ramifications this could have on the club.
"I haven't spoken to him,” he said.
“To be honest, whenever you go through tough periods of anything, you have thoughts pop into your head about all sorts of scenarios.
“I certainly don't begrudge him for having those thoughts.
"But myself being a leader, or the captain of the football club in his scenario, you have to potentially think about things differently because it's not just you that this impacts, it's the whole club.
“It's 'Scotty' (Brad Scott) as the coach, it's us as players, and all the fans as well.”
Essendon CEO Craig Vozzo also responded to the talk of Merrett leaving on Thursday with SEN Breakfast, where he said that the captain would stay put at Tullamarine.
“Yeah, that message has already been conveyed to him,” Vozzo explained.
“Obviously, we remain in constant dialogue with his manager, Tom Petroro, as well as Zach. So, Brad has spoken to him daily, and we’ve maintained that position from day one.”
Potential suitors for the Essendon captain include Hawthorn, with Channel 9 reporter and SEN regular Tom Morris having reported that Merrett has met with coach Sam Mitchell about a potential move.
If that were to happen, it would likely involve the Hawks parting ways with Pick 8 and various players.
With the trade period beginning on October 6, there is still plenty of time for things to change either way.
